


Panic Palace

by y0w0suke



Category: Persona 5, Persona Series
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Established Relationship, Implied/Referenced Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, It's mostly Ryuji-Futaba friendship, M/M, Panic Attacks, Pegoryu isn't the main focus, SO
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-16
Updated: 2019-12-16
Packaged: 2021-02-27 00:34:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,315
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21808312
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/y0w0suke/pseuds/y0w0suke
Summary: That's what Ryuji thought was going to happen on this run of the palace.But when they reach a bar area of the cruise ship, he freezes.
Relationships: Amamiya Ren/Sakamoto Ryuji, Kurusu Akira/Sakamoto Ryuji, Persona 5 Protagonist/Sakamoto Ryuji, Sakamoto Ryuji & Sakura Futaba
Comments: 3
Kudos: 168





	Panic Palace

**Author's Note:**

> So  
> This was born of me spilling ideas to a friend on discord  
> And me wanting more Ryuji/Futaba friendship  
> S o-

Shido's palace was going as normal as far as he remembers. Finding some dudes, beating them up, and so on and so on.

That's what Ryuji thought was going to happen on this run of the palace.

But when they reach a bar area of the cruise ship, he freezes.

Futaba looks behind her, raising her eyebrows when she sees Ryuji standing in place. "Skull, you ok?" 

Skull’s eyes dart around the room, his breath quicking. The smell, the broken glass of bottles on the floor, the slight wobbling of the people..

He starts to shake, backing up into the wall as his mind clouds up.

“Uh, guys..” Oracle tugs at Joker’s sleeve, her face full of concern. “Hm?” Joker looks down at her. She points to shaking blond.

_The smell, the bottles, the loud crashes, the screaming, the punches, the **pain**. _

He grips his head, sliding down the wall as soft sobs rock though his body. He hates this. He hates it when this happens. Why did it have to happen _now?_ In front of the team? 

Ryuji breathing tightens, hitting his head against the wall. “Stop it..Stop It..” he mumbles, the tears in his eyes spilling out.

“...ey.”

Is someone talking to him? He tries to look up, but all he can see are blurs. Blurry figure, blurry face, blurry _EVERYTHING._

..Where is he right now? He feels something on his face, and panics further. Skull grips the thing that's on his face, trying to get whatever is on his face _off_. 

He slams whatever was on his face on the ground, (metal? Why was something metal on him, on his _face??_ ) and grips his face, trying to control his breathing. He hears the clattering of bottles in his ears, and he yelps at the noise, slamming his hands against his ears.

"...ull."

He sobs harder, slamming the back on his head on the wall over and over again.

"ShutupshutupshutuPALREADY-"

**"Skull!"**

He feels small hands on his head, preventing him from slamming his head again. He tries to look up at the figure, his vision still blurry. Who..

"Control your breathing. Count to ten and focus on my voice." The orange blob in front of him says. Control his breathing? He takes a deep breath, squeezing his eyes tightly while gripping the hands on his head tightly.

Ryuji opens his eyes after a while, glancing around the room. He sees Futaba in front of him, the others staring at him.

Skull looks at the ground, seeing his mask on the floor. He slowly lets go of Futaba's hands, grabbing the mask and putting it back on. He leans his head back on the wall, taking another deep breath, before getting up.

He stares at the team, confused when the rest of the thieves stare at him with concern. "W-wha..?"

"What..just happened?" Mona asks, gripping onto his scarf. "More importantly, are you ok?"

What happened? Did he not know what these where? Mona being concerned for him? What world is he living in right now?

Ryuji waves his hand, leaning against the wall and holding his chest. " 'm f..fine..!" He sputters out, closing his eyes. "It's nor… normal for me to have those sometimes." He smiles at the team. "Just gi..give me a moment, 'k?"

He tries to stand up normally, his bad leg buckling under him as he stumbles forwards. Akira quickly catches him, giving his boyfriend a pitiful look.

"It's..normal for you to have those?" Queen asks, staring at the blond with concern. 

_'Ahh shit..look what you did now..'_ Ryuji shakes his head. "Had 'em ever since I was young.."

"Ry-" Noir shakes her head. "Skull, Do you know what that was..?" She whispers, fumbling with her axe.

"It was a..uh.." he looks at them while tilting his head. "Do you guys not get them..?"

"Panic attacks?" Fox asks. "No, I don't believe I get them. Or, not as much as you say you do."

"....it has a name…?"

The team falls silent, staring at Ryuji. "You didn't.." Oracle fumbles with her hair, walking over to him again. "You didn't know what it was?"

"I..thought everyone experienced this.." he rubs his head, closing his eyes in exhaustion. "Ngh.."

"..we should go home."

Skull eyes shoot open, staring up at Joker with a panicked face. "N-no, babe, look-" he pushes his boyfriend back softly, shaking his head. "L-like I said, I'm fine..!" He gives a shaky smile. "We can keep going ya know, you guys don't have to go back for a stupid fit that I had-"

Futaba grabs Ryuji's hand, making the blond jump in his place. "We need to take a break anyway. We already did a bunch of the palace already, we can take a break."

"...I…" his shoulders hunch over, finally giving up. "Fine.."

Oracle smiles as they all start to walk over to the entrance. Skull's eyes seem to wonder all over the place as Joker leads them to the entrance, scratching his arms harshly. Futaba looks at him, and suddenly grabs his hand. He jumps up, looking at her with a confused face.

“Grip my hand instead.” She says softly. “I don’t want you to harm yourself by scratching your arms.” Futaba looks at him, smiling softly at him. Ryuji blinks, but nods as he grips her hand as they walk out of the palace.

* * *

When they left the palace, Ryuji almost bolts away towards the train station, bringing his hoodie up to cover his face. Everyone looks over to him. “Someone..” Morgana starts. “Someone should go after-”

Futaba doesn’t even hear Morgana finish the sentence as she runs after the blond. She sees Ryuji hanging his head down, not paying attention to anything as he kicks a rock while walking.

“Ryuji!!”

He pokes his head up, looking back as the orange hair girl running to him. “Futaba?” He mumbles, coming to a stop. She pants when she catches up, grabbing her chest to catch her breath. Futaba looks up at him, smiling at him. “F-finally caught up to you..!” She tries to joke, laughing breathlessly.

“...What do you want, Futaba..?” He looks back at his feet, clenching his fist. Futaba’s smile fades, grabbing Ryuji's wrist. "..look." She sighs, looking up at Ryuji with concern. 

"If you ever need to talk to someone.." she starts, her grip tightening on his wrist. "You can talk to me anytime..you know?"

He looks at her. Her face is stern, but full of worry. Ryuji can feel himself falling apart, and just hugs the shorter girl towards him, starting to cry.

He doesn't care that he looks weird hugging a girl almost 30 centimeters shorter than him, how pathetic he must look while crying on a girls shoulder.

He doesn't care. He feels Futaba freeze for a second before hugging Ryuji back, rubbing circles around his back. "H-hey.." she whispers. "It's fine, everything's fine, ok?"

All Ryuji does is whimper, closing his eyes tightly. He doesn't see the familiar fluffy black hair coming towards the both of them.

"Futaba where did you-"

Akira pauses once he sees his sister and boyfriend hugging tightly. He gets a soft smile on his face, and goes to them.

"Ryu." 

Ryuji opens his eyes, looking at his boyfriend. Akira smiles sadly at him, wiping away the tears off his face. "You wanna come to Leblanc? We can just watch videos and play games."

Ryuji falls silent, looking at Futaba. She gives her nod of approval. "I'll join in as well. I wanna try and beat you guys in Super Bash Bros!" She giggles out.

He stays silent for a few more seconds, before turning to Akira and nodding, gripping his hand tightly.

"I'd love to do that.."

Akira gives a huge smile, holding his boyfriends hand close as they go to Leblanc, Futaba following close behind.


End file.
